Efficacy and safety of IL-23 inhibitors in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis: a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials

In recent years, the use of interleukin (IL) 23 inhibitors in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) has been the subject of much research. By specifically binding to the p19 subunit of IL-23, IL-23 inhibitors block downstream signaling pathways and inhibit inflammatory responses. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of IL-23 inhibitors in the treatment of PsA. PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases were searched from the time of conception to June 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the use of IL-23 in PsA therapy. The main outcome of interest was the American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20) response rate at week 24. We included six RCTs (3 studies on guselkumab, 2 on risankizumab, and 1 on tildrakizumab) with a total of 2971 PsA patients in our meta-analysis. We found that the IL-23 inhibitor group showed a significantly higher ACR20 response rate compared to the placebo group (relative risk = 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.57–1.92; P < 0.001; I(2) = 40%). There was no statistical difference in the risk of adverse events (P = 0.07) and serious adverse events (P = 0.20) between the IL-23 inhibitor and placebo groups. Notably, the rate of elevated transaminases in the IL-23 inhibitor group was higher than the placebo group (relative risk = 1.69; 95%CI 1.29–2.23; P < 0.001; I(2) = 24%). In the treatment of PsA, IL-23 inhibitors significantly outperform placebo intervention while maintaining a favorable safety profile. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12026-023-09366-4.